Category Archives: Miscellaneous Desserts & Cookies

Making a Frozen Bombe

A classic bombe is made from ~~pig iron and gunpowder~~ ice cream and sponge cake. However the filling need not be ice cream to still qualify as a frozen bombe. Here I’m using frozen mousse for the interior which is an easier thing for the home cook to produce, even though it is a little extra rich. (Not always a bad thing).

Bombes almost always have at least two flavors of chilled/frozen filling in the interior. As you’ll see from how I put this together, adding layers is easy…two, three, four, whatever! All you need are round forms or bowls of different sizes. Since I’m going to do two flavors, I have two round molds here: an 8-cup bombe mold and a 3-cup. So what’s that extra cereal bowl there for?

A stand.

Here I’m filling the bigger of the two forms with a double batch of chocolate mousse. Nice so far, no?

Now I’m inserting the smaller of the bowls and pressing down until the mousse comes up almost all the way toward the lip.

Smooth it out a little. OK! Done…freeze that at least 8 hours. Overnight is better.

What…morning already? I don’t feel like I slept at all. Oh well. Take your frozen mold out and pour tepid water into the smaller mold to help it release. Give it a twist with both hands and…

…THERE she goes.

Now just do a little smoothing around that lip…

…and fill the center with your next filling. This is a mint white chocolate mousse, but a fruit mousse like raspberry would be stellar here, as would pistachio. This particular bombe is Kentucky Derby-themed.

Smooth it out so it’s roughly even. Now return the whole thing to the freezer while you attend to your cake layer(s).

Here I have a sheet of flourless chocolate bombe base. Also a cardboard cake round. As it happens an 8″ round is there perfect size an 8 cup mold. We’ll cut one circle here:

And one here:

Using a serrated knife cut the sheet in two…

…then make cuts all the way around.

At this point you can add another flavor dimension with a little cake syrup. This is simple syrup with some Kentucky bourbon added to it (remember the Derby theme).

Retrieve the bombe and top it with the cake layers (bottom upward), trimming them a little to fit if need be. Now put the cake circle on the top and put the whole thing in the freezer. Again, overnight is ideal.

Wow the days are just flying by, aren’t they? Is it Friday already? Fill a large bowl with warm water.

Here I’m dipping the bombe in it almost up to the rim. You want to let it sit maybe fifteen or twenty seconds before you try to get it to release.

Set it on a rack, jiggle it some and…

…schloop! Out it comes. If it’s being stubborn just dip it again. A couple of gentle raps of the rim on a counter are OK too, just make sure you’re supporting the bottom!

Smooth out any unevenness with an icing spatula.

Store it in the freezer until you’re ready to apply your glaze. Pour it on the very center and let it run down, you’ll be surprised at how well the glaze covers with just one shot.

Let the bombe set up for at least ten minutes. At that point you can serve it or return it to the freezer until you’re ready to serve. I should mention that you can also simply store it in the refrigerator and let it thaw before serving. It’ll take about two hours. Chilled, the mousse will hold its shape just fine. Slice and serve!

Filed under: Bombe, Pastry | 19 Comments

04/20/12

Making Financiers

I tell you, the more time I spend making these sorts of ultra-simple preparations the more I wonder if I’ll ever truly enjoy fancy pastry again. I took these to a get-together last evening and had a ball watching people react to them. The pattern was the same with everyone: they picked one up off the buffet table, took a bite, chewed for a moment, then stopped, held it up and stared incredulously. What the heck ARE these things???

These offer quite a bit of bang for very little buck, as it were. They’re best with fruit on the side and downright decadent with ice cream. It goes without saying they’re fabulous with coffee. Start yours by greasing your form. Even if you use a silicone mat like this 1″ x 3″ financier mold, you’ll want to butter it anyway for maximum crispness on the edges.

In a large bowl combine your powdered sugar, flours and almond meal/flour. The almond meal can be store bought (Whole Foods carries some by made Bob’s Red Mill) or made at home. Just lightly toast about 5 ounces of slivered almonds in a 375 F oven for about ten minutes then grind them in a food processor.

Whisk it all together, then add the egg whites.

Whisk those in, then start drizzling in your hot browned butter.

You can add the blackened solids if you’d like…some people consider them essential, but I don’t. I leave them out.

Lastly whisk in a little almond extract. Wanna use a little lemon zest instead (or in addition)? Knock yourself out!

Spoon the batter into the forms, filling them a little more than half way.

Bake 7 minutes at 425, then 7 at 375, then 7 with the oven off. For smaller financiers bake at 450 for 5, then 400 for 5 then 5 with the oven off. They should look about like so.

I got some fairly large bubble holes on top with the first batch. Subsequent batches had smaller bubbles, which made me think that resting the batter might be a good idea. Then I noticed the third batch had dimples in them. You can see some of them here:

I’m not completely sure what that means. However next time I think I’ll rest the batter maybe 20 minutes to let some of the bubbles rise out, then try to bake them all at once using more molds. They were all positively delicious though, no matter what they looked like. I can see why good bakers spend so much time perfecting these. If I get much better results than this I may have to quit the blog altogether and devote myself to financiers on a full-time basis.

Filed under: Financiers, Pastry | 15 Comments

04/16/12

Financiers Recipe

Financiers are a terrific way to use up leftover egg whites. These days it’s popular to use silicone molds for financiers, and indeed that is probably the most convenient and least expensive way to go. Should you decide to use silicone, however, make sure to butter the form nonetheless as the extra butter will create the much-desired crispy outer crust. If you don’t want to use tart or financier molds, you can make them in muffin tins, just be sure to only put in about half an inch of batter. You’ll need:

8.75 ounces (1 2/3 cups) powdered sugar
1 ounce (4 tablespoons) all-purpose flour
1 ounce (4 tablespoons) cake flour
4.75 ounces (1 cup) ground almonds or almond flour
5 egg whites
6 ounces butter (12 tablespoons), browned
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Have your ingredients measured and ready before you clarify your butter (you want it hot when it goes into the mixture). And did I also mention that you want your forms buttered and ready? Do that as well. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Now then, in a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, flours and almond flour. Stir in the egg whites, then the hot butter and vanilla. Fill the forms half way with the batter (you can spoon it in or pipe it if you prefer) and place them on a baking sheet.

Bake the financiers for 7 minutes, then reduce the heat to 375 and continue baking another 7 minutes. Lastly, turn off the oven and let them bake another 7 minutes. Remove them from the oven and turn them out onto a piece of parchment paper placed on a rack. Serve warm or cooled. Makes about 25 1″ x 3″ financiers or 50 very small cookie-style versions.

Filed under: Financiers, Pastry | 7 Comments

04/06/12

Hangin’ with the Peeps

The thing I love about piping peeps is, every one ends up with a different attitude. Some are elegant and swan-like, some aloof, some have deep, deep self-esteem issues. It’s my piping inconsistency that does it, but what I lack in piping skill I make up for in the diverse cast of characters I create. You can almost make up a play with them right there at the dinner table.

Begin yours by placing some pink or yellow decorating sugar (the color is your choice) in the bowl of a food processor. This isn’t a crucial step, but I find pulverized sugar is easier to apply. Plus the flat, dusty consistency gives you a finish that’s truer to the original.

Now, combine your sugar and water and set it over high heat.

Combine the gelatin and cold water…

…and give it a stir.

Bring the syrup up to 238 degrees Fahrenheit as measured by your nearest available digital thermometer. Take it off the heat and let it sit for about a minute.

While you’re waiting, dump the gelatin mixture in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whip. Plop.

Add the syrup.

And picking up the whip, give the mixture a stir. Hang on, what smells like old socks? Oh right, that’s the gelatin. Don’t worry, the odor will disappear once the marshmallow starts to cool. Meantime relax and think of boiling pig skin.

Whip the mixture for 8 minutes, until it looks like this.

And does this when you dab your finger in it.

Take that dabbed finger and use the marshmallow to stick down some parchment to a sheet pan.

Now, promptly, because you don’t have just a ton of time until the marshmallow starts to set up, load a piping bag and pipe your birds. Touching the edge of the collar to the paper (you don’t need a tip for this)…

…pipe an oval-ish shape. Pull away and up as you finish to give your bird a tail.

Moving toward the front dab once…

…dab twice…pulling back slightly…

…then pull forward. Alright, that didn’t work out so well. YOU try to do this and take pictures at the same time!

Dust them with your sugar. Actually in an ideal world this would be a two-person job. One person pipes while the other one sugars, since the marshmallow starts to set up fairly quickly.

If you need to mound it all around to get to those hard-to-reach places, fine.

You can just pour the excess off. See?

Using a little black food coloring (this is one of those gels that you can get in the baking sections of supermarkets) dab on the eyes.

Let them set up about half an hour. Then, sprinkling on a little extra sugar for lubrication, gently pry them up with an icing spatula.

Eat them, decorate with them, use them for art, microwave them, roast them, put them in your coffee, make earrings out of them…these things have a thousand uses. Those of you who like stale peeps will be happy to learn that because these lack corn syrup, they’re well stale after about 36 hours…crunchy on the outside but still a little gooey on the inside. Yum!

Filed under: Pastry, Peeps | 8 Comments

04/02/12

Marshmallow for Peeps

The thing about a Peep is, it needs to be able to stand up. The head of a Peep needs to stand fairly tall and the beak needs to stick out without drooping too much. Thus standard marshmallow isn’t really up to the task…the egg white and corn syrup make it just a bit too fluid. This one is pretty much just sugar and gelatin, which makes for a more erect Peep.

2 1/2 teaspoons gelatin
1/3 cup cold water
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
colored decorating sugar, pastel pink, yellow or purple
black food coloring

In a small bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water and let it soften. Meanwhile, combine the sugar and the (other) water in a small saucepan. Heat the mixture to dissolve the sugar and insert a candy thermometer. Heat it to 238 degrees Fahrenheit, then remove it from the heat.

Scoop the softened gelatin into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk. Pour in the syrup. Turn the mixture on low to stir the two mixtures together, then turn it up to medium high and start whipping. As the marshmallow begins to increase in volume, add the vanilla. Whip about 8 minutes until the mixture holds is “beak” on the whip.

Scoop the mixture into a piping bag fitted with just the collar, no tip. Pipe according to directions — to be supplied soon!

Filed under: Pastry, Peeps | 3 Comments

12/04/11

Simple Vanilla Custard (Pudding)

Everyone should have a simple stirred custard recipe handy. In America we call this sort of cornstarch-thickened mixture “pudding.” It’s terrific for eating just as it is, but it can also be used as a thick sauce for, well, whatever. This recipe is sort of a “pastry cream light.” It’s not as sweet as most pastry creams, nor as rich in cream or egg yolks, but it does have a dab of butter for sheen.

It’s quick, it’s easy and it tastes great when you have a cold (as I do today). The ingredients are:

1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons, 2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Start by combining the dry ingredients in a small saucepan. Whisk them together. The littler the whisk, the better.

Pour in the milk…

…whisk it all together thoroughly, checking the corners of the pan to make sure there’s no clumped-up starch hiding there. Put the pan over medium-high heat and bring it to a boil. It’ll thicken noticeably.

Pour about a third of the mixture over your egg yolks to temper them (i.e. gently bring them up to temperature)…

…whisk, and pour the whole mess back into the saucepan.

Bring the mixture back to a simmer for about twenty seconds, then remove the pan from the heat. Whisk in the butter…

…pour in a little vanilla extract…

…and you’re done! Pour the custard (pudding) into serving cups if that’s how you intend to present it.

Otherwise transfer the custard to a bowl and let it cool down for at least half an hour, stirring every so often to keep it smooth. Chill it and serve to eager children (of all ages).

Filed under: Pastry, Simple Custard (Pudding) | 4 Comments

04/08/11

Making Floating Islands

My daughters, my neighbors’ daughter, my neighbors and my wife were all stunned at how good this dessert was. On the face of it, it just doesn’t sound all that interesting. Meringue poached in milk? Oh, yippee. You really have to try this to understand how remarkable it is. With your caramel sauce and crème anglaise at-the-ready, start making your islands. Pour the milk into a saucepan and set it on to simmer.

Pour the whites into the bowl of a mixer fitted with the whip.

Whip the whites to a froth and add the salt.

Whip on medium-high until the foam is opaque and start adding the sugar.

Whip to the stiff peak stage.

Then spoon up some of the meringue and drop it into the simmering milk. Poach from 1-3 minutes. I noticed that the longer the poaching goes on, the more the sulfur notes of the eggs comes out. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. The point is that these can be poached rather lightly if you wish.

Flip them with a spider or a spoon (I went over to a metal spoon after this photo, it was just too darn big for this pan).

When done, remove the islands to a clean kitchen towel or a paper towel to drain.

After a few minutes move the islands to a parchment or waxed paper-lined baking sheet.

Cover them with plastic and refrigerate at least an hour, up to five hours.

To assemble, simply place an island on a plate and spoon over the chilled crème anglaise.

Finish with caramel sauce and serve!

I should mention that caramel sauce is just one potential topping. “Spun” caramel is a very popular topping in French homes, and produces a nice crunchy texture contrast. For that, you’ll want to have a shallow pan containing a cup of sugar and 1/4 cup of water standing by. When the islands are plated, swirl the sugar over high heat until it turns a dark amber. Insert the end of a fork into the caramel and — carefully — drizzle it over the islands.

If you prefer caramel sauce but still want a crunch, some sliced, toasted almonds are a nice addition.

Filed under: Floating Islands, Miscellaneous Desserts & Cookies, Pastry | 12 Comments

04/04/11

Floating Islands Recipe

I wouldn’t call floating Islands a no-brainer, but they do offer a surprisingly high return on the time and ingredient investment. Like most home-spun classics, there are several ways you can make them. This is how I do it. You’ll want to gather:

2 cups milk
4 room-temperature egg whites
a pinch of salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 recipe crème anglaise, chilled
caramel sauce

If you’re not in the habit of making caramel sauce and keeping it in your refrigerator in a squeeze bottle, now’s a good time to start. It’ll store indefinitely and only needs to be brought to room temperature to be used. As for the crème anglaise, you can use the yolks from the separated eggs to make that. For the truly lazy and/or time-pressed, some melted vanilla ice cream will stand in for the crème anglaise (it’s pretty much the same thing).

Set the milk on to simmer in a shallow saucepan while you prepare the meringue. Have a clean kitchen towel and a sheet pan lined with parchment or waxed paper ready. Place the egg whites in the bowl of a mixer with the whip attached. Whip the whites until they’re foamy, then add the pinch of salt. Continue whipping to the soft peak stage, then with the machine running add the sugar in a slow stream. Whip to stiff peaks.

With the milk simmering — but not boiling — spoon two or three heaping spoonfuls of the meringue into the pan. Poach the meringue for 1-2 minutes, then flip and poach another two minutes more. Remove the meringues to the towel to drain. Add more spoonfuls of meringue to the pan and continue poaching in batches until you have about twelve of them. When they’ve all drained for a few minutes, remove them to the lined sheet pan, cover with plastic and place in the refrigerator for at least an hour, up to five hours.

When you’re ready to serve, place an island in a shallow bowl, spoon the crème anglaise over the top and finish with a drizzle of caramel sauce. Obviously, these are great for dinner parties since you can make all the components ahead and they take almost no time to assemble.

Filed under: Floating Islands, Pastry | 6 Comments

09/09/10

Making Shortbread

You know, I could almost be convinced that they look like petticoat tails (even though I have no idea what a petticoat tail looks like). Whaddya think? Shortbread is one of those things that every baker should know how to make, since it’s the basis of a wide variety of cookies and some crusts. Those of you who keep track of such things may notice that shortbread is almost identical to French pâte sablée (roughly translated: “sandy” dough), save for the fact that pâte sablée generally calls for some whole egg.

Begin by combining your flours, sugar and salt in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle and stir to combine them.

Add in your cold butter all at once. Use the good stuff if you can, since you’ll notice the difference. Beat on medium speed for 3-4 minutes until the butter is incorporated.

It was a bit hot when I put this together, so the dough turned out a little smoother than it ideally should have been. Large, malleable, slightly crumbly clumps is probably the ideal texture. However this ended up working pretty well.

Now then, for shaping. To get the classic “petticoat tail” slices, follow along below. Otherwise, roll, cut and bake your dough as you see fit. If you have a pair of inexpensive cake layer pans — the kind I hope you never actually use for cake — this is an excellent time to put them to work. You know the ones, you get them in the supermarket for $2.99 a pair. Line one of them with waxed paper or parchment.

Press in your dough…

…top it with another piece of parchment…

…apply the other sheet pan…

…and mash it down firmly.

Remove the pan and peel off the top layer of wax paper.

Run a butter knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the dough. You can also use the knife to trim off some of the dough that squishes up the side of the pan there. If the dough seems very soft at this point you can refrigerate it for half an hour or so to firm it.

Turn out the round onto a parchment-lined sheet pan (no, you don’t have to use the graduated kind, it just makes me feel all science-y).

Remove the second piece of parchment. Insert the sheet pan into the 425 oven, then immediately turn the heat down to 300 and bake for 20 minutes. What’s with the blast of heat? Simply to firm the exterior of the dough mass and prevent too much spreading.

Some spreading is inevitable — and desirable, since you don’t want your pieces to be too thick. Now then, insert a small — about two inch — cutter into the center of the round and leave it there. Next score the round into 16 pieces by making shallow cuts in the round…slice it half, then the halves into halves and so on.

Lastly, poke some holes in the shortbread with a wooden skewer. You can do any design you like. I dig these concentric circles because I’m uptight.

Bake another 30-40 minutes until the shortbread is lightly browned. Allow it to cool for ten minutes, then remove the circular cutter and cut the pieces along the scores. Cool the shortbread completely before eating, about 3 hours…if you can wait that long.

Why cut the center out? you may ask. All I can say is it’s traditional. The genius of it is that it preemptively takes the pointy ends off the cookies so they can’t snap off on their own. Plus it gives the baker his or her own personal treat.

Reader Lynn adds:

Shortbread is a heavenly treat….the secret’s in the butter. If you don’t have good butter, you may as well wait until you’ve got it before making shortbread.

Filed under: Miscellaneous Desserts & Cookies, Shortbread | Leave a comment

09/07/10

Shortbread Recipe

The classic proportions for shortbread are 1, 2, 3: one part sugar, two parts butter and three parts flour. These days shortbread recipes are both sweeter and richer than that. Surprised? The below recipe, inspired by Cook’s Illustrated, boosts the sugar content by about 50% and the butter by about 25%, which is OK by me. The formula is:

8.75 ounces (1 3/4 cups) all-purpose flour
1.25 ounces (1/4 cup) of either corn starch or rice flour
5 ounces (about 2/3 cup) extra fine sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold and cut into small cubes

Preheat your oven to 425. Combine the flour(s), sugar and salt in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Stir on low to blend. Turn the mixer up to medium speed and add the cold butter. Beat 2-3 minutes until the butter is fully incorporated and a dough comes together. It will range in texture from crumbly to smooth depending on your flour and the ambient temperature.

Shape into classic “petticoat tails” by lining a 9″ cake layer pan with a round of parchment or waxed paper, laying in the dough, covering it with another round of waxed paper, and pressing down on it with a second layer pan. Refrigerated the dough 30 minutes to firm it. Loosen the edges of the dough with a short knife, peel off the top layer of waxed paper, and turn the round out onto a parchment-lined sheet pan. Peel off the second piece of waxed paper.

Put the round into the oven and immediately turn the heat down to 300. Bake 20 minutes, then remove the round from the oven. Insert a 2″ round cutter in the very center of the round (this will be removed later). Score the shortbread with a sharp knife, like spokes on a wheel, into 16 pieces. Use a cake tester or wooden skewer to poke regular holes in the shortbread (the holes are part decorative, part functional, as they allow gas and steam to escape, keeping the shortbread dense).

Return the shortbread to the oven and bake an additional 40 minutes until only very lightly browned. Remove from the oven and sprinkle on additional sugar. Cool 10 minutes then remove the round cutter (saving the cookie at the center for yourself) and slice the shortbread along the scores into blunt pie-shaped pieces. Cool completely, a minimum of 3 hours.